Average pay $30,000 over private sectorBy Dennis CauchonUSA TODAY
The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal salary data.
Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months and that's before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.
Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time in pay and hiring during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.
The highest-paid federal employees are doing best of all on salary increases. Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more increased from 1,868 in December 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009, the most recent figure available.
When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.
The trend to six-figure salaries is occurring throughout the federal government, in agencies big and small, high-tech and low-tech. The primary cause: substantial pay raises and new salary rules.
"There's no way to justify this to the American people. It's ridiculous," says Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, a first-term lawmaker who is on the House's federal workforce subcommittee.
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by Leigh Frillici / 11 NewsPosted on December 3, 2009 at 6:40 PMUpdated yesterday at 4:05 PM The FAA is investigating an incident aboard an AirTran flight from Atlanta to Houston that touched off a firestorm of e-mails.AirTran Flight 297 was delayed on November 17 after a passenger refused to turn off his cell phone.An e-mail sent out by Houstonian Tedd Petruna, who was on the flight, said that wasn’t the whole story. According to the e-mail, Petruna and other passengers believed they witnessed a dry run for a terrorist attack.Petruna said he couldn’t talk on camera, but Chaplain Keith Robinson, who was also on the flight, did talk with us.Robinson missed the original flight, but boarded after the plane taxied back to the gate because of the cell phone delay. “Flight attendants were sobbing openly,” Robinson said.Robinson said a passenger getting off the plane warned him not to get on. “He said ‘I just saw them there were these Middle Eastern men. They were taking pictures. They wouldn’t sit down,” Robinson said. “Besides that, he said a couple of them were making gestures with their hand as if they were shooting people.” READ FULL STORY >
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